Toward a more manageable prison population

4:39 PM,
Aug. 23, 2013

J. Michael Brown

Written by

J. Michael Brown
| Special to The Courier-Journal

After Sept. 30, Kentucky will no longer contract with private prisons to house state inmates, a move that ends a nearly 30-year relationship. Throughout those three decades private prisons were a necessary partner for the Commonwealth to house what was at one time the fastest-growing prison population in the country.

But after years of seeing the state's felon number increase at an alarming rate - largely for drug or drug-related crimes - we realized that we could not incarcerate our way to a safer, more productive society. As a result, Kentucky has taken bold, innovative steps to alter the ...